Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 01-12)

Can I just skip this week? I mean, the record companies clearly did. The top single this week sold only 11,298 copies and my threshold for a mention usually requires that a single looks capable of selling 50k before dropping out of the top 30 (with exceptions made for artists I have a specific interest in). I don’t think the top single – the third solo single from AKB48’s Iwasa Misaki-san (unless I’m missing a single somewhere) – will even mange 20k before falling below #30 (though I think that the fact Iwasa-san debuted as an enka singer is fascinating). The top album was the same as the past two weeks, but I suppose we’ll get to that after I finish up the noteworthy singles.

And there were a lot of lingerers thanks to the void of strong new releases.

At the head of the pack was Golden Bomber’s “101 Kaime no Noroi” at #4. The second week of sales for it were pretty weak – just 8,854 – but that just means that it was heavily front-loaded, which is no surprise. Its total is 166,514.

NMB48’s “Kamonegikkusu” bounced from #19 to #6, selling 5,572 to bring its fifteen week total to 473,437.

The Busaiku team from Kis-My-Ft2 took #7 with their “Tana kara Botamochi” selling 5,539. Its five-week total is at 188,634.

At #8 in its sixty-fourth week, Fukuda Kouhei-san’s “Nanbu Semishigure” keeps going strong and now has a total of 130,151.

“Ride With Me” from Hey! Say! Jump got #9 with 5,057 sold and a three-week total of 182,568.

Nogizaka46 is still in the top ten. “Barrette” was right behind HSJ, and now boasts a seven-week total of 486,067.

And just a step below Nogizaka46, SKE48’s “Sansei Kawaii!” was hanging out at #11. Its eight-week total is 554,863.

Taking #17 in its fourth week, “Shareotsu/Hello” from SMAP sold 3,636 to push its total to 242,940. I’m still looking for platinum before this one leaves the top 30.

Three AKB48 singles set up camp in the 20s. “Koisuru Fortune Cookie” is still the strongest of the bunch, taking #20 with at twenty-one week total of 1,499,867. The single with the really long name took #22 with after selling 1,075,443 through five weeks. And finally, “Heart Ereki” climbed to #25 in its eleventh week with a running total of 1,275,486.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, Yuzu’s “Hyouri Ittai” took #21 and has 44,499 in sales after three weeks.

Southern All Stars’ “Peace & Hi-lite” is still hanging around in its twenty-third week, finding a slot at #26 with total sales of 350,401.

“Snow Dome no Yakusoku/Luv Sick” from Kis-My-Ft2 took #27 by selling 2,465. It now has a total of 326,325 copies sold after nine weeks.

At #28 in its twenty-seventh week, Linked Horizon’s “Jiyuu e no Shingeki” will probably not get to 250k before leaving the top 30. It’s close, though, with 243,428 copies sold.

Barely hanging in there at #30 was “Kokoro Sora Moyou” from Kanjani8, which has sold 225,293 copies after six weeks

The top album for the week was Sandaime J Soul Brothers’ “The Best/Blue Impact”, of course. It has held the spot for three weeks and has broken through platinum level thanks to an impressive 32,329 copies sold, which brought its total to 252,871. Can’t really argue that it only got the top spot because everyone else was weak – 30k+ is nothing to sneeze at.

The albums at #2 through #4 didn’t reach the level of significance, though.

At #5, “One Song From Two Hearts” by Kobukuro sold an additional 8,835 copies for a four-week total of 148,258.

Interestingly, Lady Gaga is still hanging out. Her “Artpop” took #7, tacking on 8,407. Its ten-week total is 173,118.